Drink DuJour: Tavo’s Fashioned

If you’re an epicure in New York City, Tavo, with its multicultural menu of fusion delicacies like chorizo shumai and Cuban lasagna, is probably somewhere on your running list of places to try—but cocktail enthusiasts should also take note. The drink menu is equally interesting, and their riff on the Old Fashioned in particular.

Demerara syrup, which may sound fancy, is really just simple syrup made with a darker sugar for a more caramel-like flavor. Combined with whiskey fat-washed in butter and popcorn, the resulting taste is something like kettle corn in a glass.

“The popcorn butter wash adds more consistency and a toasty flavor to almost every stirring drink,” says bar manager Diego Livera of the fat-washing process, which involves mixing alcohol with something fatty (like butter), letting it sit and then straining it. The flavors remain while the “fat” is removed.